Raglan Road Trip

Raglan is New Zealand’s best known surf town. The point break is touted as one of the longest left hand breaks in the world. Naturally this place was on my list of must sees, however, it was hard to justify the 7.5 hour drive (each way) until Jenna found a second hand surfboard she just had to have that happened to be in Raglan.

Jenna’s new awesome surfboard (after I got back)

With only 5 days until I started my new job I decided to make the solo drive and have one last hooray before returning to the working world. I arrived in Raglan just before sundown to this lovely sight:

I got so caught up in watching the waves I forgot about finding a place to sleep. After driving around in the dark and a few phone calls with Jenna I managed to find an eco-retreat with one parking spot left. Waking up at 5:20am the next day, I made my way down to the point to find 20 surfers already in the water!

Raglan Beach break

Raglan Point

Apparently everyone in Raglan surfs and they milk every ounce of daylight to catch as many waves as possible! It didn’t take long for me to exhaust myself paddling through the 6-7 foot waves. A surf filled morning what quickly followed by an afternoon of wave watching and eating. I even got to try a squash and spinach pizza!

One more early morning (4:35am this time), a few hours of surf and I headed back to Wellington. I’m going to miss Raglan, where even the sky has waves!